Minseok absentmindedly moved his hand down the small rat’s body, petting his friend while his mind was focused on the man lying in the machine. He watched every twitch of Lu Han’s body with great interest, ever time the man jerked he moved closer to make sure he was still properly affixed to the contraption.

The hum of the machine echoed through the ballroom, the dials fluctuating sporadically. Minseok wondered just where Lu Han had been taken to and if he would manage to make it back intact. The drugs would help, Minseok had learned that after the first two failures. He had an edge with what he had ingested less than a day ago but beyond that it was up to his own abilities to see his mission through, assuming he could finish his task the first time around.

A sudden wave of nausea overcame Minseok, a spasm in his stomach causing him to cry out and double over. Baekhyun jumped from his hand and scurried to the far end of the ballroom.

“It must be working,” Minseok cried out through the pain. “It must be…”

He registered the sound of footsteps, Yixing running towards him. Minseok knew he had been hanging back, watching and waiting in case something would happen and he would be needed. Minseok let himself crumble into his man servant’s arms, clawing at his sleeves as his body was racked with spreading pain.

“Yixing, it is…he must…” Minseok tried to speak but his tongue was thick and useless.

“Sir, please, you need to swallow this.” Yixing produced a pill from his jacket pocket. He moved it towards Minseok’s mouth.

Minseok struggled, crying out. Yixing shoved the pill in his open mouth. He clamped his hand on his master’s mouth, the other one massaging his throat, forcing him to swallow.

Minseok dug his nails into Yixing’s arm. It felt like his body was being ripped to shreds, he was being pushed apart from the inside, his flesh and bones separating into a thousand pieces.

And then darkness.

He knew it was going to be bad, it had been building for weeks. How long had it been since he had slept? Since he had let unconsciousness take over, let the curse fall upon him again?

Minseok blinked rapidly, letting his eyes adjust to the bright sunlight. The bright sun. The smell of salt. He looked down. He toed his shoe against the sand, digging the tip into the dark wet ground. His footwear changed before his eyes, the skin of his foot revealed, leather strapped sandals appearing.

“Here again,” he whispered. It had been years since he had been to this place, since it had appeared in the rotation – the sequence he never could figure out.

He looked up, eyes scanning the beach. He was looking for someone, but who? His mind was foggy, his memories fragmented. There was someone he had sent, a new person who had taken up the task. But…who was this person?

Minseok took a step forward, then another, his legs stiff and unwieldy. A pair of children ran in front of him, giggling as they made tiny footprints in the sand. Minseok side stepped them, making his way up the beach.

“Minseok!!”

He turned at the sound of his name being called. A man with a big smile and blood red hair walked towards him. He was wearing the peculiar dress of this world, his chest exposed, his bottom half clad in a floral printed pair of pants that covered only half of his legs.

“Baekhyun,” Minseok said quietly.

“I knew it was you the moment your posture changed,” Baekhyun reported cheerfully. “I haven’t seen you in—“

“Years,” Minseok finished for him.

“Well, yes. I mean this you.” Baekhyun reached out and pulled Minseok into a bone crushing hug. “I was beginning to wonder if you hadn’t disappeared.”

Baekhyun smelled like coconuts, the strange scent that Minseok had learned of when he attended a lecture at the royal academy as a teenager. The speaker was a man who had travelled to the tropics, bringing back an array of native items.

“How have you been?” Baekhyun broke the hug but kept his hands planted on Minseok’s shoulders.

“I’ve been well,” Minseok lied. He was never well, never had been well, and never would be well until this nightmare was over. He took a deep breath, he felt woozy. “Baekhyun, have you seen anyone else recently? A person like me?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “No.”

Minseok pursed his lips. If only he knew who he was looking for. If only he could understand why he felt this way.

“There was something strange that happened a few months back, now that I think about it.” Baekhyun stepped away, his mirthful expression turning serious. “You told me about it, let me try to remember what you said.”

Minseok waited, holding his breath, heartrate increasing at the promise of learning something, anything.

“Ah, right, I remember!” Baekhyun clapped his hands together. “It was about a man named Lu something. Lu…” Baekhyun pursed his lips. “Well anyway, you said that it won’t work. That if I meet him he isn’t someone to be trusted.”

“Lu…” The name meant nothing to him.

“Be careful, Minseok,” Baekhyun warned. “But I suppose you know that, after all this time. You can’t trust anyone.”

Minseok swallowed. Trust. Had he ever truly trusted anyone? No, he didn’t think so. “Thank you for telling me, Baekhyun.”

“No problem. What else are friends for?” Baekhyun smiled brightly. It was the last thing Minseok saw before his world faded to black.

Minseok screamed, his eyes suddenly opening. He jolted up, wildly flailing his arms.

“Sir, sir, I’m here. It’s all right.” Yixing was on him in a flash, his hands on Minseok’s shoulders, keeping him in place.

Minseok struggled, crying out.

“You are awake, sir!” Yixing shouted, holding onto his master with more force.

Minseok stopped moving. Blinking rapidly he looked around. He was back, he had returned to the manor house. He was in his bedroom, the drapes drawn. The room was dark except for a handful of lit candles.

“How long was I…” Minseok asked, his voice strained.

“Five hours, sir. You don’t need to worry, I helped Lu Han from the device when he awoke.”

Minseok’s chest heaved with rapid breaths. Lu Han. He had helped Lu Han. Yes, that was his name, the one he was searching for.

The one Baekhyun said not to trust.

“Where is he now?”  Minseok pushed Yixing away and moved towards the edge of the bed. He stood, his gait unsteady. Yixing reached out to steady him.

“He is in his chambers, sir.”

Minseok pushed Yixing away yet again. He stalked out of the room, still fighting the dizziness that inevitably accompanied each episode. Down the long hallways he stalked, fire in his veins. When he reached Lu Han’s room he threw open the door without knocking, the heavy wood thudding against the plastered wall.

Lu Han was sitting on his bed, awake but groggy looking.

“You,” Minseok hissed, storming over to the man. “What have you done?!”

Lu Han stared at him, eyes glassy. “He said to tell you, he said that you should know I am –“

Minseok was on him in a second, hands wrapping around Lu Han’s long neck, pushing him down into the bed. “You failed. You failed!” Minseok screamed, tightening his grasp. Lu Han grabbed at Minseok’s arm, trying to pull him off, trying to free himself, trying to regain the ability to breathe.